Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how they define (1) a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, and (2) a hard border between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

As set out on gov.uk, and in the Government's December Command Paper, our unfettered access policy will mean that Northern Ireland businesses can continue to move their goods from Northern Ireland to Great Britain, and place them on the whole UK market, without new barriers being put in place. That is given full effect through our phased approach. In the first phase, which has been operating since 1 January, goods moving directly from Northern Ireland directly to Great Britain will benefit from unfettered access. There will be no new checks or controls on those movements. And even where goods move indirectly via Ireland, there will be no tariffs on those movements. This will be followed up with a second phase over the course of 2021 which will focus the benefits of unfettered access specifically on genuine Northern Ireland businesses. Alongside that, the UK Internal Market Act 2020 ensures that those businesses will continue to place those goods on the GB market.